Former MP Jonathan Aitken talks prison life at Hampstead church

Sarah Collings

Published: 12:39 PM September 26, 2011 Updated: 1:30 PM October 14, 2020

Former cabinet minister Jonathan Aitken will be joining a reformed drug dealer for a frank public discussion in Hampstead about life in prison.

The disgraced ex-Tory MP, who served time for perjury, will be talking to Curtis Blanc at St Stephen’s Church in Rosslyn Hill on Thursday (September 29).

The pair met and bonded in Brixton prison, when Mr Blanc interviewed Mr Aitken for an in-house radio show in 2008.

They have remained in touch, with Mr Aitken taking a close interest in Mr Blanc’s rehabilitation.

After leaving prison in 2010, Mr Blanc turned his life around and now works as a Young Ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. “We had a very similar experience,” revealed Mr Blanc. “Despite the stresses of prison life I am actually happy and content with the way things turned out.”

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The talk – A Night Of Pride And Perjury: Cellmates In Conversation – is being organised by the Hampstead and Kilburn Conservative Association.

Event supporter Paul Ratner said: “This is a must for anyone interested in crime and punishment, sensational downfalls, and one of the most notorious scandals of the 1990s.”